Section 3E. The EACC may from time to time designate one or more areas of an ETA as an EOA, and take any and all actions necessary or appropriate thereto, upon compliance with the following:

(1) receipt of a municipal application requesting such designation for a specified period of years, which shall be not less than five years nor more than twenty years, and representing that the municipality, based on its own independent investigation, has determined that the area proposed for designation:

(a) is wholly within an area designated as an ETA pursuant to section three D;

(b) conforms to the definition of a “blighted open area”, “decadent area”, or “substandard area” as set forth in section one of chapter one hundred and twenty-one A or has experienced a plant closing or permanent layoff resulting in a job loss of two thousand or more within the four years prior to designation as an EOA or the municipality has sited within it a generation facility, as defined pursuant to section 1 of chapter 164, which has a market value at the time of sale that is at least 50 per cent less than its current net book value; and

(c) satisfies such additional mandatory or permissive criteria as may be prescribed from time to time by the EACC; and

(2) receipt with the municipal application of the following documents:

(a) a detailed map of the area proposed for designation, which clearly delineates and identifies such area and which indicates with particularity existing streets, highways, waterways, natural boundaries and other physical features;

(b) a statement describing the economic development goals of the municipality for the area proposed for designation for the five year period subsequent to the date on which the application is submitted;

(c) a statement which describes the manner and extent to which the municipality shall provide for an increase in the efficiency of the delivery of local services within the area proposed for designation;

(d) a plan, if any, to link the municipality’s choice of banking institutions to the performance of such institutions in complying with the requirements of the community reinvestment act;

(e) a proposal which identifies an individual who shall be authorized to review and approve project proposals for and on behalf of the municipality and the standards and procedures to be employed thereby; and

(f) in the case of a municipal application submitted, in whole or in part, by a municipality with a population in excess of fifty thousand people according to the most recent United States census, an economic development plan submitted by said municipality which contains the following elements:

(i) a proposal which provides for streamlined licensing procedures for certified projects within the area proposed for designation;

(ii) a proposal which provides for the provision of adequate infrastructure support, including transportation access, water and sewer hook-ups, lighting, and other utilities, to and for certified projects within the area proposed for designation;

(iii) a statement which describes the municipality’s proposals to secure access to publicly or privately sponsored training programs to be made available to employees of certified projects, or others who reside in the ETA which contains the area proposed for designation; and

(iv) a plan by which the municipality shall increase the level of involvement by private persons and community development organizations in the economic revitalization of the area proposed for designation, which may include commitments from private persons to provide jobs and job training to residents and employees who work, or who will work, for certified projects in the area proposed for designation; and

(g) such additional documentation or information as may be prescribed by the EACC; and

(3) receipt with the municipal application of a binding written offer from the municipality, subject only to acceptance by the EACC through designation of the area proposed therefor, in the municipal application as an EOA, to provide to certified projects within the project EOA and pursuant to section fifty-nine of chapter forty either tax increment financing or a special tax assessment as follows:

(a) for the purposes of the provision of tax increment financing, said binding written offer shall contain a tax increment financing plan adopted in accordance with the provisions of, section fifty-nine of chapter forty; provided, however, that the tax incremental financing zone proposed in such plan shall in addition satisfy the requirements set forth in paragraph (1) of this section;

(b) for the purposes of the provision of a special tax assessment, said binding written offer shall set forth the following assessment schedule for each parcel of real property in and on which is located, and which is otherwise a part of, a certified project in the project EOA:

(i) in the first year, an assessment of zero percent of the actual assessed valuation of the parcel; provided, that such assessment shall be granted for the year designated in the binding written offer;

(ii) in the second year, an assessment of up to twenty-five percent of the actual assessed valuation of the parcel;

(iii) in the third year, an assessment of up to fifty percent of the actual assessed valuation of the parcel;

(iv) in the fourth year, an assessment of up to seventy-five percent of the actual assessed valuation of the parcel;

(v) in subsequent years, assessment of up to one hundred percent of the actual assessed valuation of the parcel.

For the purposes of this clause the term “municipality’s fiscal year” shall refer to a period of three hundred and sixty-five days beginning, in the first instance, with the, calendar year in which the assessed property is purchased or acquired or the calendar year in which the assessed property is designated as an EOA, whichever is last to occur; provided, further, that no such written offer from a municipality shall be considered to be binding as aforesaid unless and until it is authorized.

(4) approval of the municipal application by the EACC, provided that the EACC shall find, based on the information submitted in support of the municipal application and such additional investigation as the EACC shall make, and incorporate in its minutes, that:

(a) the area or areas proposed for designation in said application comport with the definition of an EOA as set forth in clauses (a) to (c), inclusive, of paragraph (1); provided, however, that such decision shall be effective as specified by the EACC; provided, further, that the statistical criteria employed by the EACC in making its decision hereunder shall be the most recent data available as of the date of such decision; provided, further, that the EACC shall be under no obligation to withdraw or rescind any such designations because of changes in said statistical data which are published subsequent to such decision; provided, further, that in the event the statistical categories incorporated by reference in said clauses (a) to (c), inclusive, of said paragraph (1) are subsequently materially altered or superseded by the publishers thereof, the EACC is authorized and directed to develop or employ new categories of statistical criteria which most nearly comport with those incorporated by reference as aforesaid; and provided, further, that said new categories of statistical criteria shall become effective when approved by the director of economic development;

(b) the documents required pursuant to clauses (a) to (g), inclusive, of paragraph (2) are final and complete and otherwise satisfactory;

(c) the binding offer of the municipality complies with the requirements of paragraph (3); and

(d) the request for designation as set forth in the municipal application, in its entirety and including all documents and materials submitted therewith, will if approved, have a reasonable probability of inducing businesses to locate or expand within the area proposed for designation and thereby increase the prospects of achieving economic stability and reducing chronic unemployment in said area; provided, however, that (i) in evaluating requests for designation pursuant to this clause the EACC may, subject to such criteria as it shall prescribe, consider and rank the relative merits of municipal applications, ascribing to each a total score which reflects the considered judgment of the EACC as to the prospects and degree to which said applications, if approved, will further the public purposes set forth in this clause; (ii) the EACC shall, if and as directed by the director of economic development, establish an application process pursuant to which municipal applications are reviewed in a competitive fashion; (iii) the EACC shall work with interested municipalities to assist such municipalities to understand the purpose and requirements of the application process and how to best exploit the economic development potential of an affirmative designation decision and, further, to minimize the administrative burden associated with such application process; and (iv) the EACC shall, through regulations or otherwise, tailor its program specifications to maximize the extent to which the commonwealth’s economic opportunity area program can benefit from similar programs sponsored by the federal government and if necessary or appropriate, file legislation with the general court which seeks amendments designed to serve such purpose.

An EOA shall retain its designation for at least five years and not more than twenty years from the date it is so designated, as determined by the EACC, unless such designation is revoked prior to the expiration of the specified period; provided, however, that the EACC shall not specify a duration in excess of that requested in the municipal application. The designation of an EOA may be revoked only by the EACC, and only upon the following grounds: (a) upon the petition of the municipality which requested the designation which petition satisfies the authorization requirements for a municipal application, and which petition shall be granted as a matter of course; or (b) if the EACC determines, based on its own investigation, that plans and commitments incorporated with the municipal application for such designation are materially at variance with the conduct of the municipality subsequent to the designation and such variance is found to frustrate the public purpose which such designation was intended to advance. Any such revocation shall only be applied prospectively to deny certification to any projects located or to be located in such EOA and not certified prior to such revocation and shall not apply to, nor revoke any benefits due to or which may become due to, any certified project already in existence in said EOA, including but without limitation any benefits included in any plans and commitments incorporated with the municipal application for such designation; provided, however, that in no event shall a certified project receive any benefits arising from its status as a certified project for a period of longer than that specified by the EACC in its certification designation, including any renewals thereof, or twenty years, whichever period is of shorter duration. The EACC shall review the designation of each EOA at least once every two years. No designation of an area as an EOA may be renewed or extended except pursuant to the provisions of paragraphs (1) to (4), inclusive. No renewal shall be granted for a period to exceed, when combined with the durations of all prior periods of designation, twenty years.

(5) notwithstanding any provisions of sections three to three H, inclusive, the EACC shall not designate nor shall there exist at any one time more than 40 Economic Target Areas. The limitations imposed by this section shall not apply to the EACC in its designation of communities applying for designation under the federal empowerment zones and enterprise communities program, so called, or to communities applying for economic target area designation that qualify under the criteria set forth in subclauses (I) and (J) of clause (ii) of paragraph (a) of section 3D.